Amtrak has selected Bombardier Inc. to provide 18 high-speed
train sets for late 1999 delivery to replace the Metroliner fleet. Each
train will include six cars, plus leading and trailing locomotive, incorporating
tilt-technology, for speeds up to 150 MPH.

National Industrial Transportation League in Opposition
to UP/SP Merger

The National Industrial Transportation League has voted
to oppose the merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific unless "conditions
are imposed to mitigate anticompetitive effects in certain areas."

By Amtrak to Staunton

[By Allen Brougham - from a feature article] . . .

As it is from time to time my custom to take off on an adventure by
train to someplace, and then to render some sort of report on what happened,
this historic community along the former C&O is my latest conquest.
The date was Sunday, March 17, and the train involved was Amtrak's now-Superliner-equipped
Cardinal. The occasion was St. Patrick's Day, and a one-day group outing
arranged by the Chesapeake Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts.

St. Patrick's Day carries a tradition of sorts with the Chesapeake Division,
and outings on this day in most recent years have involved a trip to New
York City with return aboard a premier train having a dining car. This
year, owing to a change in schedule for the Cardinal permitting a longer
round-trip from Washington, the group decided to head its efforts south
and west into the mountainous splendor of Virginia, with dinner at the
layover destination before heading back. Corned Beef was the entrée
specially arranged with the fine folks at the restaurant in the restored
C&O depot, but Prime Rib could be substituted by those not wishing
to feel particularly Irish. (Most chose Prime Rib.) Thirty-six people signed
up for the trip. Actually there were 35; one passenger missed the trip,
but he had a good excuse! Wes Vernon, a correspondent with CBS Radio, was
returning from an Amtrak trip in the West and his connection was missed
in Chicago.

It was a mostly cloudy day with a threat of rain, but the only real
concern on the trip was a timely arrival in Staunton. The schedule matched
by the westbound and eastbound sections of the Cardinal allow a one hour
and 19 minute layover there, certainly enough for a leisurely meal, but
a service disruption on the going portion of the trip, along with an on-time
performance on the return portion, could cut dinner time down to zero.
For this, a backup plan involving take-out dinners could have been implemented.
Anyway, railfans are accustomed to unexpected surprises. I, for one, have
never attended an Amtrak adventure when everything went totally to plan!

The group met for a briefing next to gate D one hour before the 11 o'clock
departure from Union Station. Ray Saunders, the trip coordinator, handed
each of his subjects an itinerary carefully worded, "barring any unforeseen
circumstances . . . " to explain the layover seating arrangement,
by number printed upon a shamrock, to assure everyone was promptly served
exactly what he or she had ordered. His efficiency was exemplary. Then,
about 20 minutes before train time, an Amtrak representative led the group
to the train for pre-boarding. The train had two locomotives, a baggage-coach,
a handicap-coach, a Sightseer lounge, and a sleeper. The group was assigned
to the baggage-coach. Then came the rest of the passengers, and promptly
at 11 o'clock we left town. The conductor asked us to remain in our seats
until after his lift, but once this was done most of the group thundered
its way to the Sightseer lounge car, two cars back. For most of us, this
was our first trip on the Cardinal in a Superliner, but many had been on
the route in pre-Superliner days.

Lawson Clark, a retired taxi driver and real estate broker, recalled
riding the line frequently when he attended college in Institute, West
Virginia, near Charleston, in the 1930's. The C&O was his second favorite
railroad, the Pennsy being his first.

Paul Bergdolt, a CPA, and treasurer of the Walkersville Southern tourist
line, had only ridden the Cardinal's route once before while on a business
car special in 1984. A railfan since the age of 4, when he got an HO set,
he also favored the Pennsy.

John Kouyeas, a retired printer, was attending his first trip on the
Cardinal. He recalled his first train ride in 1937, at the age of seven,
on the Black Diamond from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, to Buffalo, New York.
While he enjoyed trains as a kid, he did not become an avid railfan until
the early 1970's.

Gordy Bjoraker, an astronomer with NASA, takes two or three long-distance
Amtrak trips a year. He most recently rode the Cardinal late last year
for holiday travel, opting to go coach. He usually travels first-class,
but on the Cardinal it's better to go coach, said he, as the meals which
are included with first-class are not up to the premier standards of trains
such as the Capitol Limited.

Indeed, it was an open joke as we discussed efforts by the Cardinal's
lounge car staff to serve meals to first-class passengers. Tables in the
lower level are set aside for this purpose, complete with table cloths
as needed, but the special dinners prepared exclusively for the first-class
clientele are hardly a gourmet's delight. Amtrak once touted how its chefs
had attended the Culinary Institute of America. Could this be the product
of its Microwave Cooking School Division? The pre-Superliner version of
the Cardinal did have full-service dining, but this sort of fell through
the cracks as a cost cutting measure. Now the train normally runs with
four cars, before it ran with eight or nine.

The trip was running smoothly, with no delays from other trains, but
then we began to encounter speed restrictions. In all, there were about
half a dozen slow orders, and soon we learned the reason why. There in
Charlottesville was a Sperry car. It had gone through just a day or two
before. Sperry cars can detect unseen defects. Though rarely critical,
speed restrictions often result as a precaution until the problems can
be fixed, and these were what we were experiencing.

It was a tad after 3 o'clock when we stopped in Staunton. This left
us with only 50 or so minutes to eat before the eastbound train would arrive.
So we all promptly filed into the restaurant, ready to dig in. But herein
came a snag! It seems the restaurant had neglected to set the tables according
to Ray's carefully thought out seating arrangement, and the resulting confusion
lost about eight minutes as hastened changes in seating were made. But
once this was done, the meals were promptly served to everyone's exacting
selection. My Prime Rib was about the size of a catcher's mitt, which involved
considerable effort to eat in the time allotted, but to the rescue came
a take-out container by which I could finish it off aboard the return-trip
train. Dessert, too, was furnished in cups to be picked up on the platform
before boarding. Where there is a will, there is a way! "Super Eaters,"
were the words uttered later by Ray Saunders describing the trip participants.

The shortened time in Staunton prevented any in depth visit to the place,
or even to explore the shops in the restored depot. But the accommodating
restaurant saw to it that each of us was given some history to nurture,
and surely I'll want to take time some day to explore the area more thoroughly.
But briefly, Staunton was the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, is the home
of Mary Baldwin College, the Statler Brothers Museum, and the American
Frontier Culture Museum. The depot was erected in 1902, replacing an earlier
structure demolished in a derailment, and was renovated in 1989 to the
use it has today.

The eastbound train was about six minutes late arriving in Staunton.
While we had the same slow orders on the return trip as we had had on the
going trip, plus a brief delay meeting a westbound freight, we still managed
to get back into Washington some ten minutes early. Simple arithmetic can
explain how this was possible; the eastbound times in the schedule are
padded. While the westbound train is allowed three hours and 33 minutes
between Washington and Staunton, the eastbound counterpart is given all
of four hours and 18 minutes to cover the same distance. Neat, eh!

The trip to Staunton and back was a tremendous success. What made it
so was the contingent of wonderful folks who attended it, and the efficient
direction of its innovative leader. Well done, Ray!